New standards for the payment of Customs duties
Some details about the enactment of new resolutions that modify Customs duties and the assessment of articles without commercial value imported into [Cuba]
By O. Fonticoba Gener
(From the daily Granma; translated by Progreso Weekly)
Since Aug. 2, passengers who are Cuban and foreigners who reside permanently in Cuba have been subjected upon their arrival to this country to Resolution No. 222 of the Ministry of Finances and Prices (MFP), which modifies the table of taxes on articles without commercial value imported [into Cuba] and is applied by the General Customs of the Republic (AGR).
Those taxes were reformed with the elimination of one of three tariffs that had been applied. What did not change, however, was the fact that the first 25 kilograms of baggage were considered to be personal effects and therefore free of payment; also, the exemption from taxation of 10 kilograms of medicines, prosthetic equipment, scientific books or wheelchairs for invalids did not change.
In addition, articles imported without commercial purposes, whose value does not exceed 50.99 pesos, will not pay Customs duty.
For the products that exceed that sum (50.99 pesos) and rise to 500.99 pesos, Customs duties will amount to 100 percent of their value (i.e., the same sum as their value), and for those products between 501 pesos and 1,000 pesos, duties will amount to 200 percent (twice their value).
That does not mean – as Carmen Arias Suárez, deputy director of the AGR’s Customs Techniques, told Granma – that if the value of the articles fluctuates from the former tariff to the latter, the rate established for one or the other should be applied to all.
As an example, she said that if the value of the articles is 1,000 pesos, the initial 500.99 covered by the first tariff will be taxed at 100 percent of the articles’ value, and the rest at 200 percent.
SOME CLARIFICATIONS ABOUT THE NEW TARIFF
One of the changes introduced by Resolution No. 222 has to do with the currency in which the Customs duties must be paid.
In this regard, Customs has established that payment for the first importation made in the calendar year Jan. 1-Dec.31 will be made in Cuban pesos (CUP), while payment for the second importation will be made in convertible pesos (CUC), paid in CUP at the current rate of exchange for the population.
However, for 2012, the calendar year will be considered to be the period between Aug. 2 – when Resolution No. 222 took effect – and Dec. 31.
As explained by Arias Suárez, Customs authorities will consider the first importation to be that in which the passenger had to pay duty because his baggage exceeded the 50.99 pesos free of duty, in addition to the 25 kilograms considered to be personal effects.
“If during the remainder of the year the same person travels again but the articles that he brings into the country – personal effects not included – do not exceed 50.99 pesos, he will not have to pay duty and therefore [the articles] will not be considered to be an importation,” she said.
“On the other hand, if the baggage does exceed that amount, then it will be classified as a second importation and the traveler will have to pay the appropriate duty in Cuban pesos or their equivalent in convertible pesos.”
NEW RULINGS ON SHIPMENTS TO CUBA
Other variations in the payment of Customs duty will be applied beginning Sept. 3, when AGR Resolution No. 122, regarding shipments to [Cuba] via air, sea, postal service or hand carriers, takes effect.
Among those provisions is the unification of the method of evaluation of the shipments by applying the alternative Peso-Value, where 1 kilogram of miscellaneous items will equal 10 pesos. This eliminates the previous procedure, which established a value of 20 pesos per kilogram for postal or hand-carrier shipments.
To determine the value of the products that are not classified as miscellaneous (electric home appliances and other durable goods) and enter the country by those means, other mechanisms will be used, such as the invoice for the merchandise, the Declaration of Value and the Customs Evaluation List for the Importation [of Goods] Not of a Commercial Nature. Those procedures will be applied individually and independently on each article.
According to Arias Suárez, in the case of the Declarations of Value presented by the person who receives the shipment, Customs can reject them if it sees an evident underpricing of the item. In that case, Customs officials will consult the Evaluation List made public late last year, when AGR Resolution No. 321 took effect.”
[Arias Suárez] also said that, when evaluating the products, one of the techniques used is the automated shipment of the packages, which provides the weight of the container holding the miscellaneous items.
The regulations contained in Resolution No. 122 will be supplemented on Sept. 3 by those in Resolution No. 223 of the Ministry of Finances and Prices, according to which, payment of Customs duty by natural persons receiving shipments will be made in convertible pesos.
“The limit in these cases is 200 pesos,” said the deputy director of Customs Techniques. “Of that amount, the first 30 pesos (or their equivalent in 3 kilograms of miscellany) are free of duty. In other words, if the value of the articles in the shipment reaches the established limit, payment would not exceed 170 convertible pesos.”
These standards and other regulations imposed by General Customs will be published soon in the booklet Customs Standards That Every Traveler Should Know, currently being printed.
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Duties applied before Resolution No. 222
From 51 pesos to 250.99: 100 percent of the value of the importation.
From 251 pesos to 500.99: 150 percent of the value of the importation.
From 501 pesos to 1,000: 200 percent of the value of the importation.
Duties applied hereinafter
From 51 pesos to 500.99: 100 percent of the value of the importation.
From 501 pesos to 1,000: 200 percent of the value of the importation.
Purchase invoice: It is used to assess the goods called durable or household appliances.
Miscellaneous: Footwear, clothing, food, items for personal hygiene and housecleaning, jewelry, lingerie, perfumes and the like.
Customs Evaluation List for importations not of a commercial nature: It is consulted when the traveler does not submit a purchase invoice or when an attempt to underprice the goods is suspected.
